


Communication and direction

by LadyIrina



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: M/M, Missing Scene, Other, and lots of other scenes during those months, because they robbed us of that scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-07-28 04:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16234256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina
Summary: What happened in that six month gap in the movie?A lot.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> They totally robbed us of a touching reunion scene, so of course I had to fix that.  
> Despite my love for the comics, this is based solely on the movie.  
> And, uhm, rating might go up in the next chapter... I REGRET NOTHING!

The flames hurt and threatened to be the end of them both as the rocket exploded above them.  
The blackness began to detach, shielding Eddie from the fire which had already caught hold of Venom, and it spoke with something similar to regret. **~Goodbye Eddie.~**

«Venom, no!» Eddie reached out, desperately and in vain, before he hit the water and the fire devoured the symbiote completely.

It all happened so fast. One moment they were together, the next Eddie was surrounded by cold water and alone.  
Instinctively he made his way up to breach the surface. Gasping for air, he tried to see the now almost familiar blackness amidst the darkness of his surroundings. He couldn't see anything.  
«Venom!» It was absurd how the lack of a reply made fear clench around his heart. «VENOM!»

Eddie kept calling out for him. He kept treading water, looking, until the cold threatened to drag him under to drown and there were too many police and rescue crew milling nearby who could discover him.  
Reluctantly he made his way to the shore, shivering and disoriented, but even as his legs found solid ground and he could stand up in the water; Eddie had to call out one more time.  
«VENOM!»

Nothing.  
There were police sirens, ambulances, the burning wreckage of what was left of the rocket, the sound of waves and an approaching helicopter, but no rumbling voice he'd grown to know all too well. Venom was gone.

Eddie turned to leave, hoping to slink into the night without having to answer questions, when something caught his eye.

There, washed ashore, something reflected the light from the fire. Something sleek and oily. 

Eddie's heart began racing and he made his way closer on unsteady feet.

For a cruel moment, he thought he'd been mistaken. It looked like it was nothing but a trash bag or an oil spill, but when he reached out to touch it; there was no mistaking the gooey substance.  
«Venom?» Eddie dropped to his knees in the shallow water and tried to gather it up in his hands. Parts, badly burned, merely dropped off, but finally he was able to gather the shapeless and reduced symbiote by cupping both of his hands. There was no reaction from it.

«Venom, come on, it's me. It's Eddie. Talk to me.»

Nothing. It just felt cold and inanimate. It was like holding a dead jellyfish.  
Several seconds passed before Eddie closed his eyes. So the symbiote was really gone...

For creature who had saved his life several times, had saved the planet, Venom had deserved better than this. He had turned on his own kind and was rewarded with a watery grave.  
Maybe it would have been better if he hadn't found him, that way Eddie could have hoped against hope that Venom was alive somewhere, somehow.

Eddie sat like that probably far longer than he should have if he wanted to get away unnoticed, but he only opened his eyes when he suddenly felt a light touch to his wrist.  
A thin tendril stretched from the black mass, weak and trembling, blindly reaching out and touching his skin.

“You're alive.” Eddie breathed. Relief washed through him. (Why this was so important to him was something to ponder at a later moment. Much later.)

The tendril rested on top of where his pulse was racing, but it did nothing further. No more tendrils appeared. It did not move.

“Venom?” Eddie leaned closer, but could see no reaction from the symbiote. There was only this thin tendril, which looked like it was going to lose its grip at any moment. “Come on, man. What do I do? You gotta tell me what to do.”  
When Venom had decided to move into his body, he'd forgotten to give Eddie a How To Look After Your Symbiote Manual.  
“Tell me what to do.”

Again, nothing.

Eddie shivered as a cold wave washed over his lower legs and got up and backed out of the water while carefully balancing the mass in his hands. His stomach dropped when he saw the tendril grow thinner. “Nonono.” He drew his hands closer to his body as if staring at Venom would force him better. “You gotta tell me what to do!”

Another part of Venom slid off and fell to the ground with a splat.

“Fuck!” Eddie gathered the remaining mass firmer in his hands. “Stop that, ok? Just... stop.”

Voices made him snap to attention and he heard someone approaching from the left.  
Time to go.  
He hesitated, but eventually shifted Venom over on his left arm and snuck his arm under his sweater, hiding the symbiote in case anyone spotted him, and began to make his way towards the city.

Eddie had taken four steps when he felt several freezing tendrils touching his belly through his t-shirt like sticky fingers. 

An instinctive yelp escaped before he could repress it. Clamping his right hand over his own mouth, Eddie hid behind a tree as he heard the voices call out to each other.  
Standing there, hoping they hadn't heard him, he felt the symbiote make a weak effort to pull itself closer to him but gave up after one attempt and sank back on his arm.

Realization hit Eddie hard. The symbiote was cold. Seeking out his heat, but too reduced to jump around like before.  
He was pretty cold himself after the unexpected swim, but judging from the touch; the symbiote was freezing. It wanted, possibly needed, to be warmed up.

It wasn't easy, but with a little maneuvering and adjusting, Eddie managed to get his arm under his t-shirt as well and held the black mass against his bare stomach.  
When nothing happened, other than his muscles clenching their objection against having that cold thing against them, Eddie wondered if he'd been mistaken, but then gasped as the mass spread out to cover his belly.  
Holy shit, that was cold! It was like having a freezing blanket across his stomach.

Swaying on his feet, leaning against the tree for support, Eddie made himself snap out of it and was about to step forward when he felt the symbiote detach.

He automatically wrapped his left arm over his midsection, over his sweater, to keep it in place. The tendrils weakly grasped for a hold on his skin again, but he could feel it struggling.  
“Okay...” Eddie whispered, holding it close. It was clearly too exhausted or injured to merge or hold on by itself. “Okay, I got you. Let's get you somewhere safe and warmed up.”

By being careful and making sure he wasn't seen, Eddie made it back to the city against all odds.  
He rented a room in the first cheap hotel he saw with his last and waterlogged money. There he turned up the heat and made his way over to lie down on the bed, still wet and cold, but safe. For now.

Unaware of doing so, he ran his hand gently over the symbiote. It still felt cold to the touch, but dry and more solid in a way. It had expanded like a puddle when he laid down, now covering his chest as well as his stomach, resting on top of his heartbeat.

“We need to get out of these wet clothes,” Eddie mumbled, letting his hand rest on the mass covering his chest, “and maybe take a warm shower or something. Get warm.”

But he was suddenly so tired... His body felt heavy... So very, very tired...  
Eddie Brock was asleep and did not move for nine hours.

-

Eddie woke with a startled gasp. His dreams had been a mess of colors, sensations and pure dread.  
The unfamiliar surroundings had him flailing for a moment before he remembered what had happened and where he was. Sinking back against the pillow, Eddie swallowed hard and lifted his hand to his stomach.

The symbiote was gone.

He moved his hand up to his chest.  
Startled, he pulled up his sweater and t-shirt, but there was nothing but his own skin.  
Eddie dropped the clothing, sat up and looked around. “Venom?”

Nothing.

He touched his chest again, as if he could sense if the other being was under the skin.

More nothing.

“This ain't funny.” Eddie got up, still scouting around the room. “Talk to me. Where are you?”

He spent the next thirty minutes searching the room for any trace of the symbiote, but came up empty handed.  
By the time he left the room, he was starting to wonder whether he had merely hallucinated finding him.  
He could still remember how it felt having the cold shape against his skin, the desperate tendrils losing their grip despite their best effort to hold on, was it possible to imagine something that clearly?  
Then again, he'd been sharing a body with an alien creature. Maybe that was bound to do some brain damage?

Eddie wrapped his arms tightly around himself as he walked away from the hotel.

He had to go back to his apartment at some point, but decided to call Anne first. He used a payphone, thinking she was half out of her mind with worry by now. It was no surprise that he ended up being right. She yelled, then yelled some more, and then some, while he waited for her to finish, and finally she asked the real question.

“Venom?”

His throat snared up and it was hard to answer. The words just wouldn't form. “Gone. When the rocket exploded.”

“I'm sorry.” The worst part was that she meant it too.

“Yeah.”

“What are you going to do now, Eddie?”

He sighed. “I'll figure something out.” He always did.

“Say in touch.”

Eddie hung up the phone and went to face the police waiting for him at his apartment.  
They hauled him in for questioning, but he merely clung to his story of being sick, the incident at the restaurant worked in his favor there, and played ignorant to everything else. He was sick, he couldn't remember.

Then more and more dirt emerged on Carlton Drake and the Life Foundation and Eddie Brock suddenly became less interesting for the authorities.

When they released him, he almost thought he'd gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for this guy watching him walk out of the station. There was something about him that made Eddie unsettled, which could possibly come from the fact that the man was wearing an eye patch.  
Who did that these days? Seriously.

Walking back to his apartment, he paused by the window of a Chinese take-away shop. The food looked juicy and tempting and he half expected to hear a thundering voice inside his skull, but there was nothing.  
It was starting to grate on his nerves.  
How was it possible to feel such a keen loss over something he hadn't really gotten used to in the first place?  
Eddie sighed yet again and went back to his apartment.

Cleaning up the mess, both from the fight and from the so-called investigation which had followed, took up some of his time, but not enough. He constantly felt restless, yet tired and frightfully paranoid in the days that followed.

It was exactly one week and four hours (not that he was counting) since his break-in at the Life Foundation when he splashed water into his face and stared at his reflection in the bathroom. He not only felt exhausted, he looked the part, yet he did little else but sleep.

_~Eddie...~_

Eddie screamed.  
He stumbled a couple of steps away from the mirror, catching himself before falling into the tub this time, before he raised a trembling and accusing finger at the mirror. “Don't do that!”

Silence followed.

Clearing his throat and looking around the room, Eddie shifted his weight nervously. “Venom...?” Was he hallucinating again?

_~Edd-ie...~_

No, definitely not hallucinating.  
“Venom! What the hell? Where have you been?” Stupidly enough, Eddie rushed over to the mirror and stared at his reflection as if he could see him there. “I thought you were dead!”  
There was a faint flicker of black just under the skin on his throat.  
Eddie lifted a hand to touch his throat. “Are you... okay?” The voice didn't boom in his head anymore. It sounded as exhausted as he felt.

_~Weak...~_

Exhaling, Eddie let his hand sink. “But you're alive.” There were no other words to describe what he was feeling than utter relief. “I thought you were dead.”

_~Asleep.~_

“You could have told me. Dick move.” Eddie turned away from the mirror to head back into the living room. He exhaled a relieved sound before shaking his head. “We need to work on your communication skills.”

_~Hungry...~_

“Yeah, okay. Food and rest. Do you need anything else? I mean, to get better.”

_~Just you, Eddie.~_

“I'm here.”

Well, it was a start.  
After that, they just had to figure out where to go from there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After reuniting with Venom, Eddie has to try to make every day life work for them both.  
> Venom thinks humans are weirdly focused on boundaries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A slightly longer and a touch naughtier chapter. If that is not your cup of tea, you can skip one part of the chapter and the rest is about them trying to survive living together.  
> " means dialogue  
> ~ means spoken internally  
> Venom's voice starts out _weak_ and eventually returns to **normal** , while Eddie remains _human_  
>  \---

Eating and sleeping, that was all he did the next couple of days. Eddie tried to talk to Venom a couple of times, but he barely got any response so he gave up on that pretty fast.  
Judging by how intrusive and brash the symbiote had been when they'd first merged, he suspected Venom was indeed hurt badly to be this passive.  
A pulse of aggressive protectiveness washed through him. Just the thought of anyone trying to put their hands on the symbiote right now made him want to punch something! 

Eddie flushed a little when he felt his other stir under his skin. “Sorry.” He mumbled. “Didn't mean to wake you. Everything is okay. I was just thinking...”

_~You're mine, Eddie...~_

That made him flush even more and slightly uncomfortable (He wasn't supposed to react with a jab of satisfaction to that statement, right? He was supposed to react with shock, like the first time Venom had declared his ownership of him.). Eddie cleared his throat to change the subject. “But since you're awake, I'm guessing you're hungry?”

_~Fresh meat.~_

They settled on steak, a little too rare for Eddie's taste and a little too dead for Venom.

Eventually Eddie was actually able to stay awake for longer periods of time while the symbiote drowsed inside him and he was surprised to find an email where he was offered his old job back.  
It was tempting, but... Things had changed. It wasn't just his life on the line anymore.  
Eddie Brock needed to keep a slightly lower profile if he aimed to keep Venom a secret.

He thought, he sulked, then he sent a mail declining the offer and went to sulk on the sofa.

Later, when he woke up only to stare into white eyes and fangs, Eddie screamed before he realized what, or who, he was looking at.  
Venom's head was a lot smaller, now only the size of Eddie's fist, having materialized like an oil-covered snake out of his chest.

Pretending he had not been startled at all, Eddie tried to play it cool. “It's impolite to stare at people while they're sleeping, you know.”

Venom's eternal grin widened. _”Not people. Eddie.”_

Eddie snorted a laugh. “Nice try. But no staring at me either while I'm asleep.” He lifted a hand and placed it on Venom's head in a light touch to take the sting out of his words.

The symbiote flinched and there was a low, warning growl, the tip of its tongue lolling out.

Surprised, Eddie froze. 

For several seconds, neither moved. Then the cogs inside Eddie's brain starting turning and came to a conclusion. “I'm not gonna hurt you.” Obviously Venom associated touch with fighting and/or pain. “Just... trust me.”

He swallowed hard before he gently ran his hand over the smooth head, watching as Venom's eyes narrowed with suspicion and a slight case of confusion. Eddie did it again, running his hand in a careful and soothing slide over the sleek surface.  
On the third try, Venom made a rough, trilling sound and leaned slightly into his hand although seemingly unaware of doing so.

Smiling surprised, Eddie went for a fourth pet. “Nice, huh?”

Venom started slightly, glared at him and disappeared into his chest so quickly it felt like someone punched the air out of Eddie  
But it wasn't enough to wipe the triumphant grin off Eddie's face. So the big, bad alien had a third weakness, next to sound waves and fire.

He was able to keep that smug feeling until early next morning when he was in the shower and suddenly discovered that Venom had emerged from his shoulder and was lifting his face to the warm spray of water, wagging its tongue.  
Eddie instantly went to cover his crotch with his hands. “Venom, what the hell?” He only wished his voice hadn't sounded so shrill...

The symbiote turned its face towards him like the graceful snake with too much teeth it appeared to be. _”Varm.”_ The voice reeked with approval.

“Yeah, well, PRIVACY, man! How about some damn privacy?”

That made Venom frown, clearly not understanding. 

“I'm naked!” Eddie hissed, knowing it wasn't the hot water that made him red in the face right now.

_”And?”_

“And?” He took a hold of the shower curtain to cover himself up from the neck down. “And you don't spy on people when they're naked either!”

Venom disappeared inside him again and Eddie could feel a mix of amusement and annoyance radiating from it. _~You humans are weird, Eddie.~_

Eddie merely grabbed the nearby towel and wrapped it around his waist with as much dignity as he could muster. 

 

After two weeks of a little awkward co-existing with a semi-slumbering and eternally hungry Venom, Eddie was not prepared for what would happen the night he didn't quite have time for the second-dinner-thing the symbiote wanted.  
“Later,” Eddie declared and only stopped by a shop to buy a chocolate to give the symbiote something to munch on while he went about his business. He paid, went outside the store and opened the candy bar. The smell set Venom on red alert, almost pushing against his conscience like a dog pressing its nose against a window, and then Eddie did the mistake of taking one bite.

Pure euphoria rushed through him, the symbiote vibrating with delight under his skin and inside his head. It got so bad that Eddie had to step into an alley to hide as Venom took over his hand and shoved the rest of the chocolate into his mouth, wrapping and all. God, that was good!  
“Whoa, whoa, wait!” Eddie managed to swallow most of the chocolate, coughed and hacked, and spit out the wrapping from his mouth before he accidentally swallowed that as well. “Relax!”

**~More of this, Eddie. Now.~**

“What?” Eddie flailed as he felt himself being directed out of the alley like a puppet and made to go back to the store like a shitty impersonation of the bad guy in the Men in Black movie. “Stop!” 

****~More. Now!~** **

“Wait, wait, wait!” Eddie barely resisted latching on to a parking meter to stop himself from lumbering on. “WAIT!” People passing him by sent him odd looks, but it was probably not the oddest thing they'd seen on the street that day so he wasn't too worried. 

**~We want more of this...~** “Chocolate. Yeah, I got that.” Eddie cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders as he regained control of his body. “Just... Calm down, okay? I'll get the damn chocolate!” 

And while he tried to get away with buying a couple of bars, black tendrils shot out and quickly yanked the entire box into his hands. Eddie put the box back and tried to negotiate with the enraged shrieking inside his head by taking a couple of extra bars. “Stop whining or I'm putting them all back,” he growled. 

****~Dick move.~** **

Eddie snorted a laugh and went over to pay for the candy. 

Other than to bring a feeling of, well, Eddie had no other word for it, sensual pleasure, the chocolate also seemed to revive the symbiote quicker during the days (And more chocolate!) that followed.  
Venom was increasingly more active, investigating their surroundings, voicing his opinion on what kind of food he preferred rather than merely state that he was hungry.  
And maybe it did something to Eddie too, because one night, as he was walking back to the apartment a thought struck him and he asked; “Wanna go for a run?” 

The symbiote didn't hesitate and he was engulfed by darkness within a heartbeat. 

Taking the backseat while Venom roamed free was a little intimidating, mostly because things had a tendency to happen a lot faster than what Eddie was comfortable with. Lights and buildings would zoom by and they'd be a completely different place by the time he thought he recognized where they were. And despite it being unsettling, it was also exhilarating at times. 

But when Venom climbed to the very top of the highest buildings and settled there, Eddie couldn't keep quiet. 

_~Why always heights? I hate heights!~_

****”Pretty lights, Eddie.”** **

_~I'm not looking. Not looking. Oh fu... This is very high. Very, VERY high.~_ A brief pause. _~If you drop me, no chocolate for at least two weeks!~_

**”Won't drop you, Eddie.”** Venom sounded calm for once. **”Trust us.”**

Which was a totally unfair, using his own words against him, especially as he realized that he did. _~Fine. Five more minutes.~_

Aside from one incident where Eddie was too slow to react and Venom snapped up a rat and had swallowed it whole before he could object, they were pretty good at not eating living creatures.  
The symbiote would constantly request eating people or animals, but didn't sulk too much at Eddie's refusal as long as it got plenty other things to eat. 

Buying himself a cheap laptop and hacking into a neighbor's wifi, Eddie was finally able to come up with a theory of why Venom was so addicted to chocolate.  
Phenethylamine, known as the 'love-drug'. Apparantly it helped to stimulate the production of endorphins, which was the brain’s ‘feel-good’ hormones. It also strongly increased dopamine, a hormone that is closely associated with pleasure and arousal. 

He glanced over at where the symbiote was currently face down in a bowl of chocolate he'd placed on the table to distract it while he did some surfing on the net. Yeah, that sounded about right.  
Reaching out, Eddie petted the elongated neck and grinned widely as it automatically arched into his touch without lifting its head out of the bowl. He threw in a couple of head-scritches for good measure before turning back to the computer.  
There he was surprised to find a new email with a second job offer. Higher wages, more freedom, it was everything Eddie could have asked for and still he knew he couldn't accept it. 

Curling up on the sofa that night, Eddie couldn't help the lump of frustration in his throat. Of course he would be offered this when it would be impossible for him to say yes, because that was how his life was. Eddie Brock was never allowed nice things.  
Lost in his self-pity, it took a little while for him to register the sensation of a blanket sliding up his legs and he lifted his head to see several black tendrils tugging it up to shelter him from the cold.  
“Thanks.” Eddie mumbled as he settled again. At least he wasn't alone in this mess. 

****~Sleep, Eddie.~** **

He did. And when morning came, some of his fighting spirit had returned.  
Okay, so he couldn't go back to his old life, but that only meant that he had to carve out a new one!  
This meant hours in front of the computer and leaving Venom to regale himself. 

The symbiote did peer out the window for a while, stretched a bit to look around, but in the end; it ended up mostly hovering over Eddie's shoulder and trying to make sense out of what was on the computer screen. **”Bored.”**

“I'm busy. Entertain yourself.” 

Silence followed, then there was the surprising feeling of something stroking his hair. Eddie blinked and glanced over at Venom. The symbiote was petting him. That was... unexpected. But it was certainly meant as a kind gesture, so he didn't object, merely tried to focus on the computer again. 

Venom petted his head a couple of more times, then it began to explore. There was a slow slide down his neck, touching his vulnerable throat (Yeah, fine, that was a little unnerving!) and Eddie could feel him slide back under his skin and traveling from one shoulder to the other. Something moved along the curve of his shoulder blade, almost thoughtfully, down his left arm, then over and down his right arm, and there was absolutely no way he couldn't jolt in his seat when the sensation brushed by his nipple. “Whoa, easy, dinner and a movie first, yeah?” 

****~Hungry, Eddie?~** **

Exhaling with a hint of embarrassment, Eddie slumped back into the chair. “No. No, I just... Listen, you can't just touch... everywhere. Understand?” 

There was the usual moment of silence which followed whenever Venom digested some new information, then it appeared out of his chest to hover in front of his face. **”But it felt good. We felt it. Is this another weird human thing?”**

Eddie struggled to find the right words. “Don't you guys have any rules for getting it on with each other? On your planet, or whatever? When you guys hook up?” 

If it was possible to shrug without shoulders, that's what Venom did. **”We don't... hook up."**

“Ever?” Eddie was positively horrified at the notion. “Then, how do you, like, make little paras... er, symbiotes?” He had an even more horrifying image of them leaving eggs in their hosts or had their offspring burst out of the host's chest or something. But it certainly explained why Venom had been unfamiliar with the concept of touching without causing pain. (Licking did not count!) 

**”We spawn. Alone.”** Spoken as if that was the right way to do things. 

Eddie frowned. “Then why do you wanna...” He gestured faintly and luckily the connection between them allowed Venom to interpret it. 

**”Want to make you feel good, Eddie."** More of Venom emerged and covered Eddie from his torso to his hips. **”And we're bored."**

Eddie leaned further into the chair with a sharp inhalation as he felt the symbiote slide a smooth touch down the inner side of his thigh. “That's, ah, really romantic.” His voice was getting a little high pitched and shaky. “But, uhm, listen, I'm not quite sure what you're planning here...” 

****”Relax, Eddie.”** **

He really shouldn't... Really. It was quite possibly the worst idea ever.  
But Eddie had always loved playing with fire. That's what made him a brilliant journalist, and a shitty boyfriend.  
“One condition.” 

****”Name it."** **

“If I tell you to stop, you stop.” 

****”Acceptable.”** **

Eddie exhaled and leaned his head back to stare up at the ceiling and wondered what the hell he'd just agreed to. Nothing about the situation with Venom was normal, but was this pushing it even beyond that? Quite possible. And it should probably worry him more than it did.  
“But, uh...” He quickly shifted his gaze to where the symbiote was gathering in his lap and drew a deep, deep breath while sucking in his stomach as if to shy away from it, “uh, what exactly do you... I mean...”  
Their different shapes was pretty obvious and there were a whooole bunch of razor sharp teeth in the picture. 

****~Always scared. Pathetic.~** **

Eddie opened his mouth to deliver a scathing reply, but then there was like a hot, tight grip where his body was definitely most happy to have it and the words got lost momentarily in a surprised moan. It was like all the blood in his body rushed to gather below his belt.  
“Oh. God.” He let his head fall back to rest against the chair and fought to breathe. “That's... Yeah...” A hazy part of his brain pointed out the advantage of them sharing a connection when it came to this; he didn't have to tell the symbiote anything. It felt what he wanted, what felt good...  
The thought that it was actually touching his dick was only mildly unsettling now. 

****”I've always touched every part of you, Eddie. We are one.”** **

Ok, that made it worse. But it kind of made sense; the symbiote had been literally under his skin and the times when it curled around him, forming the impressive shape of the two of them combined, it had really felt like they were one body. 

“Communication skills and the concept of privacy, am I going to have to pop-quiz you?” Eddie fought air into his lungs, arching his back and closing his eyes as the pleasure really began to build up. And it was building fast! There was no teasing or drawing it out, just a raw manipulation of every sensitive nerve ending in his body. 

“Fuck!” Eddie ground out, arching his back again, digging his heels in and instinctively grabbing for purchase with his hands.  
-Too much, he wanted to say, but he couldn't speak, or even think, right now. -Way too much!  
His entire body was shaking, he couldn't breathe and Eddie finally found something to hold on to with his right hand; grasping it as tightly as he could when he fell apart. 

If he'd had air in his lungs, Eddie probably would have yelled loud enough to even bother his heavy metal neighbor, but now he merely shook helplessly and tried to stay sane as he came harder than he'd ever done before. 

It was only after, when he slumped into the chair, heaving for air, that he noticed he was holding on to a hand. Well, technically, it was the symbiote which had turned some of itself into a hand for him to clutch on to. And, for some reason, its 'fingers' were braided with his; holding on to him as well. Either blindly copying his move or needing the connection itself.  
Staring at their combined hands, Eddie panted for air and tried to deal with what had just happened. 

****~Stop thinking. Rest now, Eddie.~** **

That sounded like an excellent idea... He closed his eyes for a bit, strangely okay with the symbiote curling up in his lap like a sleepy cat. Hell, he even felt okay with being a less-than-a-minute man. 

****~Not bad. Almost as good as chocolate.~** **

Eddie snorted a laugh, content to drowse. 

****~You humans are really weak. How long must you rest before we can do that again?~** **

Eddie opened his eyes abruptly, suddenly nervous. What had he just unleashed? “We're, uh, going to have to talk about that. Communication, remember?” 

Venom scoffed with badly veiled contempt, but he settled again and went blissfully quiet. 

On their two month anniversary since the break-in to the Life Foundation, Eddie was rudely awakened by an ear-splitting boom and being up on his feet, in Venom-shape, before he was fully conscious.  
Venom glared around the apartment, tongue out and teeth ready, but there was no sign of any assailants.  
For a moment, both Eddie and the symbiote were equally confused, but a second, slightly more distant, boom outside the rain-covered window explained everything. 

_~It's okay, Venom. It's only thunder.~_

Still not convinced there was no danger, Venom snarled and kept glaring around in the apartment. **”There was an explosion, Eddie."**

_~No. Just thunder. Bad weather. You can relax.~_

The symbiote hesitated, not fully convinced, but a lightning flash followed by rumbling thunder seemed to persuade it and it withdrew to allow Eddie to emerge.  
Gaining his balance, Eddie shook his head a little to shake off the remains of sleep. “Okay, now that we're up... Breakfast?”  
Instead of the usual demands, the symbiote was quiet, giving off nothing but tension.  
Frowning, Eddie crossed his arms. “Hey, what's wrong?” No reply. “Answer me, Venom.” 

Blackness emerged from his right upper arm, forming Venom's head, now significantly larger than the days after the explosion, but he was glaring the window suspiciously.  
A loud thunderclap made Venom snarl, unfolding its long tongue and drooling. 

Eddie fought against the urge to tell the symbiote he would not be the one drying that up and tried a calming voice instead. “I'm telling you; it's just thunder. It's not dangerous. Well, unless you're sitting on top of the city's largest building and lightning decides to strike you.” 

****”Loud. Don't like it, Eddie.”** **

Truth be told, it did sound an awful like the rocket exploding all over again. Sighing, he moved to awkwardly shove his hands into his pockets. “Want to go get some chocolate?” 

That finally caught Venom's attention. **"None of that shitty mint-chocolate. Real chocolate."**

Relieved he'd finally been able to distract the symbiote, Eddie got dressed.  
There were a couple of thunderclaps on his way to the store, making the symbiote curl up tight within him, snarling and defensive, but once inside the building the tensioned lessened.  
Eddie picked up a couple of pizzas, some coffee and was waiting for Venom to decide on which chocolate bars it wanted when his old instincts kicked in and he could feel himself being watched. 

****~Behind us.~** **

Using a reflective surface, Eddie easily recognized the guy with the eye patch who had been watching him leave the police station. He turned to face him. “Help you with something?” 

The man smiled a little, not even pretending to be innocent. “That depends.” 

“On what?” Eddie did nothing to hide the sharp tone in his question. 

****~Let's eat him, Eddie!~** **

“On whether you still have that alien creature or not.” The man stepped closer, fearless. Bad move. It put him within easy distance for Venom's grasp and fangs. “It seems like the sabotage at the Life Foundation might actually have been an intervention to save our planet and sources tell me that your parasite was involved.” 

**~EAT HIM!~** Eddie pushed away the violent urge with no small amount of will power. Instead he kept the man's one-eyed gaze calmly. “If you know that much, then you know it was killed in the explosion.” 

The man smirked. “Did it? You've been buying an awful lot of food for a man living on his own, Mr. Brock.” 

“You know,” Eddie turned to pick up a couple of chocolate bars, “Carlton Drake wanted to get his hands on these creatures too. Look how well that went for him.” 

“Carlton Drake was messing with things he didn't understand.” 

That brought a wry laugh from Eddie and he shook his head a little. “That's true.” He glanced over at the stranger again. “I can't help you.” **~At least bite his head off. Knows too much, Eddie.~**

“A creature like this is worth a lot of money, Mr. Brock. I understand you're currently unemployed?” 

Eddie paused.  
He could probably get a filthy amount of money if he handed over Venom, never struggle financially for the rest of his days, get his life back on track. 

And what would it mean for the symbiote? A new host? Containment? Experiments? 

Eddie could feel Venom's rage towards the stranger turn towards him like a flood wave. Red hot outrage. And maybe even a flicker of doubt among the anger...  
It was the last of its kind on Earth, unable to survive on its own and its weaknesses were now known to the humans. Despite its strengths, it was vulnerable. 

Eddie slowly opened one of the chocolate bars and took a big bite. He chewed a couple of times before giving the stranger a wide smile. “Sorry. Can't help you.” And walked away. 

Paying for the items, Eddie had barely stepped out of the store before he spoke. “Relax. I'm not going to hand you over to them.” 

Thin, oily tendrils slid from his wrist to the chocolate and tore off some small pieces to devour.  
**~You're mine, Eddie. You can't hand me over. I own you.~**

“That's another thing we need to talk about.” Eddie allowed Venom to steal more of the chocolate, enjoying the side-effects of his obvious pleasure. “Listen, whatever the future brings; I'm not going to let them get their hands on you, okay? You can trust me on that.” 

Venom was silent for a moment, but then a tiny tongue flicked out from one of the tendrils and licked the chocolate off Eddie's index finger, making him smile a little at the tickling sensation. **~Extra cheese on the pizza tonight, Eddie.~**

“We can do that.” 

**-**

Nick Fury lifted the phone to his ear while watching Eddie Brock walk away.  
“Fury here. Yeah. Put Brock down as Undefined, tagged Dangerous. He's definitely got the symbiote, but it's hard to say which side they'll be on. They're too unpredictable. We've either got a new candidate or a serious problem on the horizon.” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BONUS CHAPTER! Venom meets his first Avenger.

**~He's watching us.~**

“Yeah. Middle building, right?”

**~Right.~**

Ever since eye patch man had approached them in the store, Eddie had been uncomfortably aware of someone following him around. Clearly the guy had connections and wasn't ready to give up getting his hands on the symbiote.

**~We could run up there and eat them, you know.~**

“I know.” Eddie kept walking, trying to act normal, just an average guy making his way down the street, heading back to his apartment. “But we're trying to keep a low profile, remember?”

**~Bah.~**

They were approaching a four month mark of co-existing since the explosion and Eddie had been quite busy trying to make the symbiote adjust for life on Earth. It wasn't easy teaching a carnivorous alien what was okay to eat and not, what he could touch and when, but they were making progress.  
“Hey, it's not like I enjoy being spied on.”

**~Who knows. You humans are weird.~**

“That's rich coming from someone who spent seven hours non-stop watching and drooling over Deadliest Catch yesterday.”

**~I wasn't the one who cried during Bondi Vet.~**

“They thought the dog was going to die, you dick.” Eddie came to an abrupt stop on the sidewalk. “Fine. You want to go up there? We'll go.”

**~Yessss.~**

 

“I swear, this got to be the most boring surveillance mission I've ever been on and considering my track record and enjoyment of generally keeping still; you know it's bad. And speaking of bad, if you thought the amount I can eat is impressive....” A brief pause as the other person on the phone answered. “I don't know. Fury said one month at least. How are things on your side? Yeah, I saw it on the news. And like I told you yesterday; say the word and I'm there. This mission might be pointless anyway with all the stuff going on.”

Only lightning quick reflexes lowering it prevented the black goo (appearing out of nowhere) from grabbing a hold of the cell phone. There was a loud thud as Venom landed heavily next to him on the roof and withdrew the black goo into its body again. 

Clint Barton blinked wide eyed and lifted the phone to his ear again. “Nat, I gotta go. Talk to you later.” He hung up and shoved his phone into his pocket.  
That was the most teeth and the longest tongue he'd ever seen at the same time.

For a moment, they merely stared at each other, then there was a badly timed car crash down on the street and the sudden noise made Clint make a break for it and Venom shoot forward in chase.

Clint ran for his life, jumping and dodging as black slime tried to grab him, all the time knowing there was no way he'd be able to outrun his pursuer. He jumped over to the roof of the neighboring building, clearing some obstacles and moved down a couple of stories by jumping from one fire ladder to the next.  
The black monster dropped the same amount of stories in a single jump. It was like having fifty tons of sharp teeth and violence on your tail, determined to rip you to pieces.

Cursing quietly, Clint quickly pulled out his bow, unfolded it in a single shake and fired his grappling hook arrow up on to the roof of the building across the street. He was pulled away just as several black tendrils slammed into where he'd just been standing.

Back up on a roof, he didn't hesitate to start running again. He could hear the creature roaring angrily and slamming into the building he was currently on, after a jump that no one should have been able to make. (Except maybe Thor. Oh, and Cap!)  
“Shit, shit, shit,” Clint was looking around for some way to make his escape. How the hell had that thing managed to find him anyway? There was no way Clint had blown his cover. His ability to do surveillance from far away was the reason why Fury loved to send him on these missions.

Instinct saved him once again and Clint automatically dodged merely half a second before the massive being that seemed to be running on pure stubbornness hit the ground there.  
Drawing and shooting several arrows, each with different tips, Clint circled the beast and watched the effect they had; close to nothing other than to piss it off further.  
His quick reflexes saved him from any injuries as the oily mess tried to grab or impale him, but Clint knew all it would take was one wrong step and he'd be dead.

Finally. One of his arrows with a sound grenade tip made made the creature stagger backwards, letting out a sharp growl. So while it wasn't enough to stop it from going after him, at least that meant Clint had a fairly good idea how to keep it at bay. Fury had been right. The computers at the Life Foundation had not been set up on those frequencies by accident.  
A couple of clicks on the end of his bow had the sound techonology arrows ready and Clint was the one to charge for once.

Bombarding it with arrows exploding with different kinds of frequencies, he could see and hear the blackness twisting and screaming around a humanoid shape within it. This was definitely hurting it.

Clint was so focused on the strange sight that he didn't see the hand coming before it was too late. It grabbed a hold of his jacket, yanking him close, just a final arrow exploding caused the entire torso to be laid bare from the oil. The archer found himself staring at the man called Eddie Brock.  
Clint Barton: 1. Scary Space Goop: 0.  
Triumphant, Clint grinned widely to the one he'd been spying on for what had felt like a small eternity and who now had him in a firm grip. “Hah.”

“Hah.” Eddie countered in a deadpan voice. And promptly punched Clint in the face.

Ow. 

 

“Are you okay?” Eddie asked, trembling with rage and ignoring the confused squint the blond guy sent him behind the hands clutching his bleeding (hopefully broken) nose.

**~His pancreas is going to taste so good!~**

“I'm interpreting that as a 'yes'.” Eddie said, relieved to feel the symbiote starting to climb up his body again, covering everything except his head. And he could finally turn his attention to the one in his grip, the one responsible for hurting Venom. “But I want to hear why this guy is spying on us.” And then punch him a couple of times more. 

The archer's words were mumbled behind his hands. “You dnow talking to yourselb is a very bad sigdn?”

Eddie had to smile when the guy's eyes widened at the sight of Venom's head rising from Eddie's shoulder and how it hovered with an angry snarl and more saliva than strictly needed. 

Lowering the hands, the blond swallowed hard. “Please don't eat me. I'm on a really bad diet. I'd probably just clog up your arteries anyway.”

**”I say we take our chances.”**

“Two against one isn't fair,” the stranger pointed out.

“Why are you spying on us?” Eddie asked.

“I'm Clint.”

“Eddie. Venom. But you know that. Why are you spying on us? And this is your last chance to answer.”  
Venom opened its maw, showing off rows of sharp teeth, tongue and how nicely Clint's skull would fit in there.

Making a face, clearly disturbed at the sight and possibly a little intrigued against his will, the archer shifted his focus to Eddie. “I'm here to make sure you and your, uh, friend there don't do anything... stupid.”

 **”Spying on us is stupid.** Venom reached out and let its tongue run up Clint's neck.

Eddie frowned thoughtfully. “That eye patch guy sent you, didn't he? What's his deal?”

Doing his best to discretely lean away from the tongue, Clint cleared his throat. “What's the deal about claiming your buddy here was dead?”

**”Definitely have to eat him, Eddie. Can't have him tell anyone.”**

“Definitely don't have to do that,” Clint countered. “So much salt in me. So much.”

Eddie shook his head, frustrated. “Shut up, the both of you.”  
Venom made an offended hiss and turned his glare on Eddie, who ignored him.

“Listen,” the arched said. “Things are changing. It's not more than a couple of years ago I fought against aliens coming through a space gate in New York City and judging by the arrival of your friend; there's a whole lot more of them up there and maybe more already here. We just need to know who's on our side and who's not.”

Eddie snorted a laugh, measuring the blond. “You're an Avenger? Seriously?”

“Let's just say I'm someone who has a problem with people being eaten.”

**”Pussy.”**

Clint raised his eyebrows at Eddie as if scolding the parent of a child who had just used bad language.

To his annoyance, Eddie flushed a little. “You've been spying on us. You know we don't run around eating people.”

“Yet.” Clint stated seriously.

 **”Yet.”** Venom agreed hopefully.

Not sure why the hell he was defending them in front of a stranger who had no business with what Eddie Brock did, Eddie still felt strangely reluctant to just have Venom kill him like he'd done with the threats in the past. “So, what? We're just going to have to be okay with having someone watch our every move? And I'm not going to give him up, so you can forget about that.”  
For some reason, it felt like the symbiote tightened its grip on Eddie.

Clint winked. “Don't worry. I think we have what we need.”

“What you...” Eddie began, but then there was a loud bang and an agonizingly bright light. By the time he and Venom both had recovered, no more than ten seconds later, the archer was gone.

**”We could track him down.”**

Eddie made a thoughtful sound, absently rubbing the knuckles which had connected with the guy's face, before reaching up and running his hand gently over Venom's neck. “Nah.” He turned to enter the door leading off the roof and into the building. “Something tells me that guy is off our backs.”

**”We could jump, why take the stupid stairs?”**

“Good cardio.”

**”It's not even that high. Still a giant pussy.**

“You just lost one hour of TV privileges. Keep it up and you'll lose more.”

**”WHAT?!”**

 

Clint crouched down on the roof, waiting for his call to be put through, watching as Eddie disappeared down the street. Once he heard the confirming click, he began to speak; “Hawkeye here. Confirmed sighting of the alien. It's still alive and merged with Eddie Brock. What do you want me to do?” He waited for the reply, then; “Okay. Roger that. Good luck. Going dark.”  
Ending the call, Clint made sure to destroy the SIM card and got ready to disappear from the world for a while. Things were about to change even more.

It was three months after that, when Eddie entered his apartment and discovered the guy with the eye patch, now wearing sunglasses instead.  
“Eddie Brock. I need your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, sooo... I honestly didn't y'all would want to read more, but it seems like you do and that has lead to me deciding to take on a huge task.  
> Joining in my other Marvel-fics, I'm going for the Infinity storyline with Venom in it, and some canon characters left out (because I'm a lazy ass.)  
> For the ones who are interested, my Clint and Natasha fic; https://archiveofourown.org/works/13047543/chapters/29844429  
> And the beast of a Guardians of the Galaxy series, which I need to finish before I start up the Infinity War: https://archiveofourown.org/series/149667
> 
> Wanna read Infinity War Venom? https://archiveofourown.org/works/16380182/chapters/38336828


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